Almost 47 years to the day, Jefferson All-Americans John Blessman and Doug Lane returned together to the Kingston Stadium sidelines Friday night for a football game with Washington.

Blessman came from the Amanas, Lane from California.

The last time they were there the Warriors beat their heralded undefeated team to break the J-Hawks' 37-game win streak.

The two old gladiators gave a pep talk to this year’s rejuvinated Jefferson squad and came close to getting revenge for that bitter loss nearly a half-century ago.

The J-Hawks spotted Class 4A fourth-ranked Washington a touchdown on the third play of the game and a 15-0 edge after a quarter of a lightning-delayed contest.

Following a soggy first half, Jefferson roared back to within 22-20 before eventually falling 43-26.

The non-district tilt between the two old rivals started an hour late and finished just before midnight.

For Jefferson Coach Brian Webb, whose teams were 1-8 in their first two seasons, it felt like a victory.

“We had opportunities to win this game, not just make it close,” he said. “We had too many penalties and a couple of untimely turnovers.

“But I really think we’ve turned the corner. It was a tremendous effort by our kids. We have a really good team.”

So does Washington, which had a Cinderella season last year by winning six straight at the end of the year to make it to the playoffs.

The Warriors have speed to burn.

Speed demon Isaiah Nimmers outran the secondary twice to catch touchdown passes of 61 and 44 yards. Track star Landen Akers ran a kickoff back 65 yards, and newcomer Tavian Patrick uncorked a 70-yard TD run.

Jefferson countered with a 98-yard kickoff by Manny Olutunde and two touchdowns by sophomore scatback Tavian Rashed.

“Give the Jeff kids credit,” said Washington Coach Paul James. “Their quarterback (Jesse Furrow) is a stud. But our kids stepped up and made plays when we had to.”

WASHINGTON 43, JEFFERSON 26

JEFF WASH
First downs             12 11
Rushes-yards 37-134 33-22
Passing yards 187 184
Comp-att-int 9-23-1 10-15-1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Punts-avg. 6-29.3 5-36.0
Penalties-yards 10-85 6-45

Jefferson        0  0  20 6 - 26
Washington    6  9  21 7 - 43

W – Nimmers 61 pass from Snitker (Pass failed)
W – Safety
W – Akers 65 kickoff return. (Lenzen kick)
J – Rashed 4 run. (Kesterson kick)
J – Furrow 4 run. (Run failed)
W – Patrick 70 run. (Lenzen kick)
J - Olutunde 98 kickoff return. (Kesterson kick)
W – Dobbs 1 run. (Lenzen kick)
W – Nimmers 44 pass from Vogel (Lenzen kick)
J – Rashed 3 run. (Pass failed).
W – Dobbs 2 run. (Lenzen kick)

Individual statistics
Rushing
Jefferson – Rashed, 17-32, Furrow 12-51, Olutunde 1-50.
Washington – Snitker 3-9, Akers 1-46, Smothers 1-6, C. Vincent 2-9, Patrick 10-139, Dobbs 11-22.

Passing

Jefferson – Furrow 9-23-187-1.
Washington – Snitker 6-10-99-1, Vogel 4-5-85-0.

Receiving

Jefferson – Furnish 2-65, Short 2-65, Olutunde 1-34.
Washington – Nimmers 4-108, Akers 2-46, Herzog 1-6, Arrington 1-7, Smothers 1-14, C. Vincent 1-3.